Losing business to amateurs

[MSnowy]

I wish I could get people to come work for me for free. Needs- lawyer, accountant, architect, plumber, electrician, house painter, interior designer, site manager and website developer.

Interestingly, quite a few of those positions are frequently associated with certifications or licenses that establish a minimum skill set for practitioners, but a couple of them might actually be decent analogs -- I bet you could find a house painter or website developer on Craigslist that would work for a fraction of what you'd pay a "real" company -- especially if you pay in cash. I bet you could even find a handyman do do plumbing & electrical work as long as you're not too concerned about whether you're up to code.

Oh, and an awful lot of this "internet" thing runs on free web development. The amount of technical skill needed to put together a website with Wordpress today is a tiny fraction of what was needed just a few years ago -- not completely unlike the way cheaper equipment has allowed more people to work in photography.

What I'd like to find are people who do these jobs full and are charging top dollar to come work for me in their spare time for free. All they need to have are their own tools and supplies.

 

[Vince.1551]

There are pro bono services that you might want to explore


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[MichaelHenson]

If you really want to feel good about the state of the photography business check this FB page out..

Ahem! Let's keep clean and above the belt shall we?

 

[MSnowy]

There are pro bono services that you might want to explore


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Oh this is to work for a home improvement business that I've owned for 30 years.

 

[Vince.1551]

Ahhh ok got it


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[Braineack]

I rewired a few rooms in my house. A bunch of electricians cried to sleep.

The lawn service guys throw bricks at me when I mow the lawn.

 

[BillM]

All of this from the same group of compassionate and caring individuals who banded together to send a camera to India. They did that for no reason other than to further another human beings love of photography. Interesting.

 

[tirediron]

...The lawn service guys throw bricks at me when I mow the lawn.

Yeah, but let's be honest, that has NOTHING to do with the fact that you're mowing your own lawn.

 

[lambertpix]

All of this from the same group of compassionate and caring individuals who banded together to send a camera to India. They did that for no reason other than to further another human beings love of photography. Interesting.

Isn't it obvious? The real reason was to sew socioeconomic instability by introducing disruptive technology. Wait.... do they have Craigslist in India?

 

[imagemaker46]

Yes but it's Rajeshlist

 

[chainsawal]

I'm frankly a little baffled by some of the responses I've read.

It seems that the logical conclusive extreme of this whole thread is that only those who charge for any time spent behind the camera ought to have a total monopoly on all genres of photography because any photograph not taken by a professional is one that might otherwise have been taken by a professional and is therefore undercutting.

Well said...

And the person who implied that because we are hobbyist or amateurs that our photos aren't the same quality is living in "la-la" land. Sure, there is a lot of crap out there, but that doesn't mean it all is.

I use to spend tens of thousands of dollars per image for commercial photographer in NY names TAKA in NY City back in the 90's (yes, that was a lot of money even back then for a single product shot). Now that I have been shooting my own for years, I look back at some of his work and realize that at a minimum I can achieve the same quality level.

And I have multiple bodies and tons of hi-end glass... to imply a amateur or hobbyist won't have a 2nd DSLR when the 1st break is another absurd statement. I current have a D4S I just bought, a D800, a D7000, and a D80 (that my 9 year old shoots with).

I wonder if some of the old school photographers realize that their elitist attitude and failure to acknowledge the way a free market works doesn't help their cause? I almost feel pity for many of them until you read through threads like this.

 

[chainsawal]

The OP was upset at the amateur who was undercutting him...

Actually, no. The OP was upset about an amateur who took a job away from his friend.

I'm also apparently not particularly impressed with today's reading comprehension skills.

Wow... that changed the entire dynamic of this conversation. It wasn't the OP.. it was his friend.

Well I guess you are right, that changed the entire conversation so nobody's points until now have been valid, right?

Unreal... using foul language on a photography forum, trolling people, etc. I have had a very positive experience on this site until coming across this poster of questionable class.

 

[kc4sox]

EVERY working photographer was at one time an "Amateur" aspiring to be a "Professional" And, I'd bet ALL of them worked cheap to get their foot in the door. .Just sayin...............

 

[vintagesnaps]

That's disheartening. Notice she didn't go to a restaurant and offer to bus tables for free (which might make sense if it was to pitch in and help a relative with a family run business).

Maybe there will be some sort of cosmic justice and she'll flake out on them mid season because she'll find out shooting sports and doing it well is actual work, so they'll be calling the friend back since they'll see what they got for free instead of hiring a professional. (Probably won't happen but one can hope. LOL)

 

[slackercruster]

What I've learned here in this thread is that...

a) if you have money, you can do whatever the f*** you want, no matter who it hurts;
b) unscrupulous behavior is good business; and
c) if someone gets upset at the lack of integrity and/or compassion, then they will be told that it's just simply "the way it is" and we all just need to suck it up.

None of this gives me even one iota of hope in humanity.

You have an unrealistic view of humanity darling. I'm not going into too much details, nor will I send in pix that will illustrate my case. But humans are not that nice of a creature to start with.

If there were not laws against it you would be raped every day as you step out of your door. The Mexican narco gangs likes to flay the skin off the heads of their victims. We can all see what the muslims do if left unchecked. The Chinese used to execute people by cutting. (Cutting little pieces of their body off in public.) Well, they got more civilized and now shoot the victim in the head and send the family a bill for the bullet. Lots more ugly things going on in our world than our little worries here.

The bottom line with this photo discussion goes back to the legal / illegal question. There is nothing illegal about people taking photos and giving all of them away for free.

Here are 23 million pix for free...

Wikimedia Commons

Photographers need an outlet for their efforts. People give charity of all sorts, so why not photos as well?

The way photography turned out is; there is an overabundance of photogs and photos, so this is our world. As they strain the oil out of the sand and have to crack the rocks to find gas, maybe our world will be changing in the future and analog will be king again. But until that time, as long as the electric stays on, digital will be our world.